John
From Hebrew for "God is gracious", it's the English spelling of the name Poland usually writes as Jan. Fewer than 2,300 people here carry this version, and it keeps fading, so most Poles have never met one.
John Pronunciation
John is pronounced YOKHN (/jɔxn/).
What John means
Where John comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
John reaches English from the Hebrew Yohanan, which means Yahweh is gracious. It traveled through Greek Ioannes and Latin before English speakers clipped it down to a single blunt syllable. The meaning stayed put: a small claim that God shows favor.
Two figures fixed the name in Christian memory. John the Baptist, who baptized in the Jordan, and John the Evangelist, credited with a Gospel. Their fame pushed the name across Europe, and in English-speaking countries it ranked among the most common male names for centuries.
In Poland the name lives mostly as Jan, though John itself now turns up on a class register beside a Polish surname. The spelling shifts, the sense underneath does not. Bóg jest łaskawy. That old Hebrew claim runs four English letters long.
How many people are named John
1 in 9225 men in Poland is named John. 2,317 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #661 among male names.
John's popularity over time
0 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been falling steadily since 2000.
Where John is most popular
John is most popular in Lublin, 602% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+389%) and Masovian (+103%).
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Lublin2 boys born+602%
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Pomeranian2 boys born+389%
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Masovian2 boys born+103%
John as a middle name
John is a first name for 2,317 men in Poland and a middle name for another 3,086, a 43/57 split — almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 150th, between Roch (3,178) and Marceli (3,037).
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148
3,179Gracjan
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149
3,178Roch
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1503,086John
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151
3,037Marceli
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152
2,885Klemens